RWBY: Team MGMA Chapter 3
by TeamMGMA
Summary: The Third installment in the series, After Initiation it is now time for team mgma's lives as hunters/huntress's in training to begin, but dark forces will soon conspire against them from behinds the shadows veil.


The Lie Eternal

The next morning was dark, the iron-gray clouds swollen with a storm. Modriot sat at her desk across the room, the chair facing towards the room. She sat in it, her legs crossed, staring idly around the room. She hadn't slept in her bed, preferring instead the desk chair. The bed emanated a sense of luxury that she didn't feel that she deserved; she felt this way about all beds.

She could faintly hear the sounds of her teammates sleeping, and a thought fleeted through her head that they should rise soon. From what she knew of Aiden, it was likely he wouldn't if he didn't have to. Jacen may rise soon, and Mallaithe would probably be the first. Modriot also decided that she wasn't going to attend classes as well. She appeared in her early thirties, and she knew that while a small transformative spell would add the façade of youth, it would be too much of drag to keep up the spell for any length of time, and she would get bored of it. Besides, she doubted that there was anything that the professors taught that she didn't know already.

Something had drawn her to this school and compelled her to act as a first year student of all things, but she had no idea what.

Her eyes flicked upwards as an alarm clock sounded and Mallaithe got out of bed, her tri-toned hair wild with flyaways. She stretched, her gray tank top showing a thin line of stomach above her short black sleep shorts. She gave Modriot a hesitant smile, and said "Good morning," her almost white eyes flicking down. She walked over to the prone Jacen and gave him a light shake. He sleepily waved an arm at her and rolled on his side, pulling his pillow over his head. Mallaithe sighed, and turned back to her bed. "I'm not even going to bother with Aiden. He'd probably remain comatose no matter what I did."

Modriot nodded, then resettled herself down on her chair. There was an itch of unease blossoming between her shoulder blades, but she didn't know what it was that was causing it. She cast a sharp glance to Mallaithe, who was attempting to get a brush through her hair. "Get dressed, and do it quickly. We need to move, and I will not have anyone slow us down. Fill any spare vessel with a lid with water and keep it close to you."

Getting up, Modriot strode up and over to Jacen's bed. She grabbed his shoulder and shook him hard enough for his teeth to clack together. His eyes sprang open indignantly. Modriot gave him a hard glare that brooked no argument. "Get up." Jacen swallowed any words back into his throat and got up, albeit obstinately slow.

Modriot turned her attention to Aiden, who was happily snoring in his bunk. Weighing her options swiftly, she opted for the direct approach. Gripping the side of his mattress with her arm, she commanded in a clipped voice for Mallaithe to move. Modriot then hauled up and over, pulling the mattress out from under Aiden and spilling him on the floor. He landed in a spill of sheets, floundering slightly. He sat up on the floor, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "Aw man," he said in a piteous voice. "I was having the best dream. I was the king of Mt. French Toast, and any challengers were drowned in my syrup river."

Jacen was in the middle of shrugging into his jacket while he asked "Any reason for this rather brusque awakening?" Modriot gave him a hard look and said "I am leaving. I expect you to come with me as my team. I will have no argument or stragglers. Something is amiss, and it is making me uncomfortable." Aiden rose, stretching his arms over his head. "You sound so ominous. It's not like the world is ending."

A soft wind was blowing through the trees, rustling leaves and layers of fabric. A lone woman stood atop a peak, long dark skirts swaying softly in the breeze. Only the ends of her long inky tresses moved in the air current, most of her being shielded by a black silk parasol. Her dress was the same deep shade as her parasol, with two off center rings of snow white lace hooking over her hip and extending downwards. Her arms were covered in long black opera gloves. Around her neck was a confection in jewelry; an elegant draped collar of black gold with brightly polished diamonds the size of pinheads. Her skin was a dusky shade that seemed to almost glow from within. Her eyes were a fusion of colors, ink blue swirling with brilliant violet. It was almost like the galaxy was trapped within them.

She stared into the distance, focusing on a tall spire that had several bright green orbs suspended in it. Her brow elegantly furrowed as she studied. "It is odd to me, this _academy_." She said the word strangely, as if she were moving it around her mouth like a foreign wine. "I remember when mortals were afraid of the creatures in my night. Now, they stand against them. Slay them for sport."

Her words fell upon the ears of an elegantly dressed gentleman with raven hair who was climbing the hill to stand by her side. His well-tailored suit was cut in the style of a bygone era, and was the same ebony deepness of the woman's dress. Whereas hers was trimmed in white, he was trimmed in a light gray, almost silver, crushed velvet. They stood together, taking in the view.

"Are the preparations nearly complete, my love?" The woman asked, turning to face the man. Her elegantly shaped hand reached forward to lightly cup his face. He turned his chin towards his shoulder, pressing his pale cheek against the blackness of her glove.

"Nearly, my queen. Leona and Ivor have checked in recently. They have spirited away the necessary tools for our first segment of our plan. Soon, we will be able to use them as needed." He smiled at the woman, who returned it with brilliantly white teeth.

"Good. This _academy_ ," she spat the word, "is an eyesore. So is this surrounding kingdom. I will have my night, and all its terror, reign supreme once more. With you by my side, my love, it is all I have ever wanted." She withdrew her hand and turned to face the spire once more. "I wish to be there when it happens. I want to see the terror on the poor children's faces when the place they thought was safe crumbles around them. I have been removed from the world for so long, but I know the arrogance of man when I see it."

"Will you be cautious while you are there? You are not at your full strength, and I do not wish to rule a broken world without you." The man's voice expressed a slight edge of concern, and he stepped forward to lightly wrap an arm around the woman's waist. She slightly melted into the touch, adjusting her parasol to sit over her other shoulder so as not to accidentally strike him in the face.

"Erebus, my love, you worry too much." She laughed lightly, a sound like wind chimes. "I shall be perfectly safe. What of the other ten of my stars? Are they positioned for their turn?" Erebus nodded, his expression serene. "Yes. Each is waiting and ready for their turn in orbit. Aludra is practically begging to press the button herself."

"For my virgin, she is quite bloodthirsty. Quite the opposite of her starsake." The woman straightened, then started walking down the hill. Erebus followed, matching her step for step. He stopped for a moment, then checked a small Scroll in his pocket. "Leona and Ivor have made it home safely. They await your inspection and approval."

"You have adapted to modern technologies far faster than I, my love. I doubt I will ever understand such complicated and meaningless devices." She commented blithely as they walked. "Well, if you would apply yourself, my Nyx, you would understand them." Erebus bantered back. She stuck her tongue out at him, then she stopped. The faint soft whirring approached them.

They continued walking to a small clearing nearby, where a smaller version of a Bullhead was waiting. A slight girl with ocean blue hair was waiting for them, arranging her soft gray and blue skirts neatly. Upon their approach, she spread her skirts wide, curtseying in a practiced motion. Her soft green eyes remained fixed upon the ground as she greeted them. "Lady Nyx, Lord Erebus."

Nyx reached forward and rested it gently atop the soft fine hair of the girl's head. "Thank you for coming, Assane. You do well to keep your eyes down. I would hate to remove them from you." Nyx peeled back her lips in a travesty of a smile.

If Assane felt any fear, she didn't show it. She kept her eyes firmly focused on the ground, only moving once Nyx had removed her hand. She curtsied even lower, then rose and went to the cockpit of the Bullhead. Erebus held open the door of the Bullhead, and offered his hand to Nyx. "Allow me to help you in, my lady. " She lightly took it and accepted his assistance.

The Bullhead's interior was much different from its normal militant counterparts. It had a soft velvet couch installed again the back wall, and the wallstraps one usually held to maintain an upright position had been removed. The inner walls had been covered in a thick velvet painted a deep blue, and had been skillfully detailed to closely resemble a night sky. A delicate table made of wrought iron and glass sat on the right side of the couch, a small bucket containing an iced bottle and two champagne flutes. As Nyx gracefully settled on the couch, Erebus climbed in and closed the door. The whirring of the Bullhead's propellers was muted by the velvet, so it made conversation easy. Erebus proceeded to go to the table and pull the bottle out of the ice bucket. Setting it down on the table, he noticed that the flutes hardly moved at all while they were on the table. "Assane has learned to pilot this smoothly it seem."

"Yes, it seems so. My stars are far more technologically advanced than I. It bothers me some." Nyx remarked as she accepted the flute from Erebus. It was filled with a brilliant gold liquid that gave off a faint smell of honey. She sipped it lightly, and sighing, relaxed against the soft upholstery. "It has been a long time since I have tasted this. Even in my darkest of slumbers, I could still remember its sweetness. Even after all these long years, ambrosia has never lost its savor."

Erebus sat down elegantly next to her and sipped from his own glass. "Our stars were diligent whilst you slept. They adapted to the ever-changing world so that you would never lose your edge. Will you be learning the skills later?" Nyx laughed again, the same eerie tinkling sound. "I'm sure a light sample of their ichor will provide me with all the teaching I will need."

The flight was seemingly a short one, and they landed on a pad near a warehouse on the far end of Vale, almost bordering on Vacuo. As they disembarked the ship, Nyx paused and turned her face towards the sands, inhaling. "Do you smell that, my love?" Erebus remained silent, watching her. Nyx inhaled one more time, taking in as much as she could. The dry desert wind swept against her, rustling her dress and hair far more than the slight breezes of Vale. The sun seemed almost harsher here, shining down on the spit of land that was a strange juxtaposition of green forestry and burning sand. "That is the smell of desolation. It is the fragrant perfume of the meaningless struggle humans wage against a foe they cannot hope to best. Their tears and sweat add to the bouquet, does it not? I wish I could bottle it and wear it. There is nothing more wonderful than watching the human spirit be crushed under the ever-turning wheels of time while they believe the lie eternal that they will survive."

Turning, she linked her arm through Erebus', and they proceeded to the warehouse. "Now, show me the bottled destruction my stars have stolen for me."


End file.
